Va. Proposes New Rules On Polluted Soil

Critics Concerned About Contaminated Landfills

The state has proposed new regulations on polluted soil that would allow much more of it to be buried in conventional landfills or to be classified as ``clean fill.''

Critics say the rules would increase the chances that harmful chemicals from soil contaminated with oil and gasoline would pollute the environment or come in contact with people. They also say the rules would be lax enough that companies from other states would send their polluted soil here for disposal.

``I believe that this proposal will firmly establish Virginia as the East Coast's `dumping ground' for contaminated soil,'' wrote Bernard Bigham, an environmental consultant from Baltimore who specializes in soil treatment, in a letter to the state this month.

Department of Environmental Quality officials disagree that Virginia will become a magnet for contaminated soil; there are cheaper alternatives closer to home, said Hassan Vakili, head of DEQ's solid waste division.

But the state is taking opposition to the proposed rules very seriously, Vakili said. ``There may be changes,'' he said.

Vakili acknowledges that the rules would allow more contaminated soil to go directly into solid waste landfills. But he doesn't see that as a problem, because landfills are more sophisticated than when the old regulations were put in place.

DEQ has said one goal of its proposal is to reduce the costs of complying with the soil regulations. Sending the soil to a landfill is $10 per ton cheaper than using heat or bacteria to break down the petroleum, which is usually required under the current rules. The state estimates that 200,000 cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated soil are dug up each year as underground storage tanks are replaced.

Environmental groups, including the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club and Virginians for Sensible Waste Management, believe the savings aren't worth the trade-off.

``Our major concern is there could be massive amounts of soils that are either left in place or sent off to inappropriate landfills,'' said Jeff Corbin, staff scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

The new rules would replace fixed contamination levels with a case-by-case system, where the state would determine if a particular pile of soil could safely be dumped in a particular landfill or left on a particular piece of property. For example, polluted soil near a playground or a stream might have to be moved, while the same soil could remain on the grounds of a factory.

At the same time, the state wants to eliminate some of the tests that determine whether contaminated soil is safe. Instead it would test for one chemical - benzene - because it poses the greatest threat to human health, Vakili said.

But to focus on only one chemical undermines the concept of dealing with the soil on a case-by-case basis, critics say. Testing only for benzene ignores other potentially harmful chemicals like toluene and xylene, said Corbin of the Bay Foundation.

And while benzene is found in gasoline, it is almost absent from other petroleum products like heating oil, diesel fuel and motor oil, said Jack Ruffin, chief operating officer of Soilex Corp., a soil treatment company in Virginia Beach.

``By going to this benzene standard, they are ignoring the majority of petroleum products,'' Ruffin said.

The most detailed critiques of the state's proposal have come from people like Ruffin, who stand to lose business as a result of the changes. Soilex vaporizes and captures petroleum from contaminated soil by heating it to 250 to 500 degrees.

The proposed soil rules are part of a comprehensive overhaul of the state's solid waste regulations that consists of over 500 changes. Most of the changes are clarifications or grammatical corrections, but 117 aim to reduce the regulatory burden on landfills and others, according to DEQ.

WEIGH IN

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will accept signed, written public comments about its proposed solid waste regulations through Wednesday. Send them to DEQ, P.O. Box 10009, Richmond, Va. 23240. For a summary of the proposals, call DEQ at (804) 689-4000.

Richard Stradling can be reached at 247-7420 or by e-mail at rstradling@dailypress.com